Delhi 6........

Received a mail from Vijit, asking whether coming for Delhi 6 on Saturday for 4.45 show, & said it seems to be a nice movie & have got a good review...... I thought lets go for it......... Later due to some reason plan was changed to Sunday 12 noon show....

To start with, Rakeyesh Mehra actually managed to depict almost every aspect of indian life namely police, corruption, media, community, religion, Rama and politics, metro and modern aspirations, arranged marriage and indian idol...alas the list is endless. May be this makes people feel lost watching the movie, searching for a main plot all the while, missing the bigger picture......

The Movie:
‘Delhi 6’ made on the backdrop of Delhi’s most populated Chandni Chowk, takes a lot of time on introducing each and every character, though every moment is enjoyable . The two brothers [Om Puri, Pawan Malhotra] and the wall that divides the two; the daughter of the house [Sonam Kapoor] aspires to be an 'Indian Idol' contestant; a moneylender's [Prem Chopra] wife has an illicit relationship with one of his debtors [Cyrus Sahukar]; an 'untouchable' [Divya Dutta] ; a friend of the family [Rishi Kapoor] has still not forgotten his first love & yes there is Kaala Bandar who spreads havoc in the locality......

The onus is them shifted on to the hero Roshan( Abhishek Bachchan) – a US bred protagonist – born to a hindu father and a muslim mother, who returns to India with his ailing Grandmother (Waheeda Rahman), as she prefers to die in her motherland.

Exposed to a totally different culture, the young man gets the real flavour of the junk food on the busy streets and also witnesses a cow delivering on the middle of the roads, blocking the traffic. The director also uses the backdrop of Ram leela celebrations in the colony to project the national integration , by showing a muslim jalebiwala, an active member of the organizing committee. At the same time he shows the Politicization of the festival, when mid way of the concert the organiser felicitates the minister . It is during this fest that Roshan meets Bittu ( Sonam Kapoor) an ambitious young girl in the neighborhood, who is practicing hard to become an Indian idol on TV reality show.

The director has also shown the tamashaa of our TV channels blowing up the news of a supposed to be monkeyman, attacking the people in that town. But then he had the reason to do so, as he finds his climax in this tale, through which he delivers a message. But, in this trashy climax, he has also stuffed a scene from heaven inviting his Aks- favourite Amitabh Bachchan to do an act of conversation with the hero, who returns to the earth after knocking at the doors of heaven. So, the journey of the hero from life to death and again life drags on in an ambulance which also struggles to run on its way to the hospital.

The Message:
Like Rang de basanti this movie also has a big message.. actually a bigger message which can actually save our community.....our country..... Most of our netas, our country neighbors who simply dislike us for our progress and unity use us time to time to divert our attention for their benefit and we are played just like any other card. But if we learn to live in peace with each other then we stand so strong and could face any challenge..... In his message he has tried to explain in detail as to how a wicked ghost hidden in each one of us tries to give rise to enmity amongst each other and in the process destroys humanity.

The Conclusion:
Too much of hype and high expectations from audience always makes a film look ordinary, after its release. The same has happened in the case of ‘Delhi 6’. A lot was expected from the intelligent director, but like his long name, he opted for too many characters and offered a multifaceted presentation with subtle screenplay.....
Abhishek doesn't work. His American accent sounds fake. Sonam is likeable. Waheeda Rahman enacts her part well. Rishi Kapoor is wasted. He deserved a better role.

Unplanned Murder

It’s 12.30 A.M. and not feeling sleepy inspite of hectic day…… Don’t know why…. At this time I thought why not enter the world of blogging…… Infact past few days I was thinking of this but was not able to get an idea how to start with….. But after reading Vijit’s (my friend from Deloitte) blog, I got an idea of writing short stories…..So I have given a start & let’s see how far it goes…..

The Unplanned Murder..... 

Annu Sharma stared down at the body of her husband. Contrary to all she had read, the act of killing him had been quite easy. When Jay had slapped her during their heated argument, it was a natural reaction for Annu to take the rod and strike him with it.

Yes, killing him was easy. But now Annu knew she had to dispose of the body, and that would be much more difficult.

Sitting on the sofa, she told herself, "Stay calm; don't panic. In an emergency the key to success is to relax and think."

Annu had read many murder mystery novels, so she was familiar with how the villains of those books got rid of their victims.

"I could bury him in the back yard," she thought. But then she decided, "Impossible. I could never do all that digging and refilling a hole big enough to hide Jay's body. Besides, Kinjal would be suspicious when Jay suddenly disappeared and at the same time the back yard was dug up."

Kinjal was Annu's neighbor and the neighborhood spy. She seemed to know everything about everyone on the block. Getting past her would be a formidable task.

"Kinjal saw Jay drive away earlier tonight," Annu thought. "I saw her wave to him. But he came back while she was away. Maybe I could use that to my advantage."

Annu rose and began pacing the floor. As she did, her gaze fell upon the evening newspaper which was opened to the theater section.

"Of course," she gasped. "I can drive to one of those theaters, dump Jay's body in an alley, and leave the car. That way it will look like he was attacked." Annu smiled at her cleverness. "Then all I have to do is get home unrecognized. But how?"

The answer came to her in a flash: She could disguise herself. Annu remembered that she had dressed as a streetwalker for a costume party, and she still had the dress, and wig stashed away somewhere in her closet. A little makeup and the disguise would be complete.

"Well, now to get to work," she told herself cheerfully.

First she placed a plastic bag over Jay's head to prevent any blood from getting on anything as she moved him. Then she emptied out his wallet and removed his ring. The money she'd keep; the ring she'd toss away during her ride home.

Jay's body proved to be much heavier than Annu had anticipated but, after quite a struggle, Annu managed to get Jay into the front seat of his car. She laid his body on its side and covered it with the raincoat she planned to wear.

Slowly, and without turning on the headlights so nosy Kinjal wouldn't see anything, Annu pulled out of the garage, down the driveway, and onto the street.

For the next fifteen minutes, Annu drove more carefully than ever before. She didn't want to do anything that might get her stopped by a policeman.

Finally Annu came to theater. Fortunately for her there was a narrow alley between a movie house and a bookstore.

Annu parked the car. After waiting a sufficient length of time to be sure no one was around, she got out of the car and removed Jay's body, dragging it as quickly as possible about halfway down the alley. She then turned his pockets inside out and tossed his wallet on the ground where it was sure to be seen.

Then, after removing the plastic bag from Jay's head, she returned to the car, locked the doors, and walk briskly away from the area. Then she hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take her to the town's largest mall.

Annu sat in the back of the cab and smiled. She was retaining her poise and calm quite well, and that, she told herself again, was the key to success.

At the mall Annu paid the cabbie and waited until he had driven out of sight. Then she walked to the rear of the mall where the employees parked. In this lonely area she rapidly removed her wig, dress, and high heels. She quickly put on a sweater, jeans, sneakers, and raincoat and stuffed the costume into the bag which had held the other clothes.

Returning to the front of the mall, Annu caught a late night bus.

She gets off several blocks from her usual stop and walked the rest of the way. Approaching her house silently, Annu sneaked into her own garage and let herself into the house. She mounted the stairs to the kitchen, fumble about, found her way into the bedroom, and undressed for bed, all without turning on a single light. No sense in attracting Kinjal's attention.

“I tell you, Kinjal," Annu said over coffee the next morning, " when Jay comes home, I'm going to kill him. He went out last evening saying he had a meeting to attend and he never came back."

"I saw him leave," Kinjal said. "About six o'clock, wasn't it?"

"I think so. Probably ended up drunk at some buddy's house. Played poker all night, I'll bet. Just wait till I get him."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

Annu opened it to see a uniformed policeman.

 "I don't know how to tell you this, but your husband's body was found in an alley this morning. It appears he was the victim of a theft." Annu covered her face with her hands, a gesture she felt would show surprise and shock. She collapsed into her chair and began to tremble.

"Funny thing, though," the policeman said as he crossed the kitchen to a pegboard by the door that led to the garage stairs. "We found your husband, his wallet, and his car, but no car keys."

He fingered a key ring attached to an oval with the initials JS inscribed on it. "How did he manage to drive that car without his keys, I wonder?"

Annu felt her calm slipping away and panic beginning to overpower her.